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University of Washington Mount St. Helens Collection, 1954-2010

Overview of the Collection

Creator
University of Washington. Libraries
Title
University of Washington Mount St. Helens Collection
Dates
1954-2010 (inclusive)
1980 (bulk)
Quantity
10.18 cubic feet (22 boxes)
Collection Number
5874
Summary
Materials collected immediately following the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980
Repository
University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections
Special Collections
University of Washington Libraries
Box 352900
Seattle, WA
98195-2900
Telephone: 2065431929
Fax: 2065431931
speccoll@uw.edu
Access Restrictions

Open to all users.

Request at UW

Languages
English
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Historical Note

This collection was created by the University of Washington Libraries in order to provide a comprehensive account of Mount St. Helens and its volcanic activity in 1980. Mount St. Helens, located in southwestern Washington State, erupted on May 18, 1980. According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the eruption occurred at 8:32 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time. Before the eruption, the elevation of the volcano had been 9,677 feet. Afterward, it was 8,363 feet, having lost 1,314 feet in elevation. The explosion blew out the northwest side of the mountain and pulverized about a third of the volcano, which turned into mud and ash. The ash cloud blackened the sky as it traveled eastward, leaving detectable amounts of ash over an area of 22,000 square miles. The ash cloud reached a height of about 80,000 feet in less than 15 minutes after the eruption. It spread across the U.S. in 3 days and circled the globe in 15 days. In all, 1.4 billion cubic yards of ash were thrown into the air by the eruption of Mount St. Helens.

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Content Description

Materials primarily from the immediate aftermath of and the years following the Mount St. Helens eruption in May 1980. This collection--which was created by the University of Washington Libraries in order to provide a comprehensive account of the volcano and its activity--sought to bring together all types of material about Mount St. Helens, including advertisements, meeting and conference minutes, news releases and newsletters, reminiscences and personal observations, scientific data and reports, and more. This collection also contains materials from government agencies and other organizations, such as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Washington State Division of Geology and Earth Sciences, as well as bibliographies of related materials.

Materials that were added to the library collection through regular channels--and not donated specifically for this collection--were duplicated for this collection when appropriate.

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Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Use

Creator's literary rights not transferred to the University of Washington Libraries.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

This collection is arranged into fifty-five separate categories:

  • Inventory
  • Advertisements
  • Bibliographies
  • Book Reviews
  • Burlington Northern
  • Center for Disease Control
  • Correspondence
  • Creative Response
  • Humor
  • Idaho Department of Employment
  • Meetings and Conferences
  • Mt. St. Helens Protective Association
  • Mount St. Helens Public Review Task Group
  • News Releases
  • Newsletters and Trade Journals
  • Oregon Department of Environmental Quality
  • Periodicals
  • Posted Bills
  • Public Announcements
  • Emergency Measures
  • Consumer Advisories
  • Reminiscences and Personal Observations
  • Research Papers and Preliminary Reports
  • Jack Sauers Papers
  • Scientific Data
  • U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
  • U.S. Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
  • U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
  • U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
  • U.S. Congress/House of Representatives
  • U.S. Forest Service
  • U.S. Geological Survey
  • U.S. International Trade Commission
  • Washington State Department of Commerce and Economic Development
  • Washington (State) County Road Administration Board
  • Washington (State) Department of Emergency Services
  • Washington (State) Game Department
  • Washington (State) Division of Geology and Earth Sciences
  • Washington (State) Department of Transportation
  • Washington (State) Treasurer
  • Weyerhaeuser Company
  • UW Libraries Mount St. Helens 10th Anniversary Party
  • Ash Samples
  • Newspaper Clippings
  • Mount St. Helens Articles and Papers
  • Mount Baker
  • Articles and Papers
  • Mount Rainier Articles and Papers
  • Cascades Articles and Papers
  • Indexes
  • Publications
  • Objects and Ephemera
  • Photographs
  • Audio Cassettes
  • T-Shirts
  • University of Washington Mount St. Helens Action Group

Related Materials

The Special Collections Mount St. Helens Exhibits website was captured by the Internet Archive Wayback Machine on Nov. 17, 2021. The snapshot can be viewed here: https://wayback.archive-it.org/4224/*/http://specialcollections.ds.lib.uw.edu/MountStHelens/

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Detailed Description of the Collection

 


2015 (Last modified: 12/8/2022)

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